Results 2,781-2,800 of 6,030 for speaker:Brendan Ryan

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I have one further question. While I am not trying to be awkward, to a considerable extent this constitutes the nub of the Bill. I am surprised there is no definition of the term "campus" anywhere and one could end up with all sorts of complications in this regard. Section 7(9) defines "sports campus" as a campus of facilities for sporting activities. Although the fact that I had time to...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I have a couple of questions in respect of section 9 regarding some points which confused me. Perhaps I am easily confused. Section 9(10) uses the phrase "a person shall be disqualified for holding and shall cease to hold office". I appreciate the sensitivity of the draftspeople in recent years because at one time this clause would have included bankrupts, criminals and Members of the...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Section 10(1) states, "the Authority shall hold such and so many meetings as may be necessary for the performance of its functions". Although I read through section 10, I did not find any minimum number of meetings. I may have missed it, as I do not claim to be the world's greatest authority on these matters. It seems strange that the board would not be obliged to have some meetings. I...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I disagree with the Minister and Members should set some minimum standard in this respect. Four times a year would constitute a reasonable minimum figure. Aside from this Bill, I must engage in further research in this regard. I find this to be an invitation to a domineering chief executive to minimise the role of the board, especially if the chief executive and chairman came to a convenient...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I compliment the Minister. I may have missed this before but section 13(7) is the first time I have come across the provision that a chief executive shall not take up particular types of employment for 12 months after ceasing to be chief executive. It is a welcome development although I would prefer 24 months. People in such bodies or Government advisers should not be able to move seamlessly...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I, like everyone else, am aware of the perpetual talk about the alleged pensions time bomb that is ahead of our children if not ourselves. I am not sure life expectancy will stretch that far. This Bill does not seem to provide for any equivalence to public service pensions. The scheme will be approved by the Ministers for Arts, Sport and Tourism and Finance. It could be a defined payment...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Section 16 deals with the disclosure of interests, which is becoming standardised. It never used to be included in Bills such as this. I do not have major objections to it, except for section 16(3), which states: A person shall not be regarded as having a beneficial interest in, or material to, any matter by reason only that he or she or any company or other body or person mentioned in...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Nobody is arguing with the basic thrust of this section. However, it seems it would be a lot easier if the judgment were made by an individual such as the Ombudsman, secretary to the Government or another person or body who would be in a position to make an objective judgment. Under section 16(6) the Minister can deal severely with somebody where he comes to the conclusion that he or she...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: It would not be the first time.

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: That the authority should define what is confidential is a bad idea. I have said this about every Bill I have dealt with in this House. We ought to have an objective test of what is confidential because different bodies come to different conclusions. Coillte, for instance, which is a publicly owned organisation, keeps insisting that it is not and is therefore not bound by the obligations of...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I did not believe the Minister would.

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: There are clearly good reasons to require Members of the Oireachtas or the European Parliament not to be members of the authority given that it is ultimately accountable to the Minister and the Oireachtas. However, there is no such relationship of accountability between the authority and local authorities and therefore the logic does not apply. There is no logic to excluding local authority...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I am intrigued that members of local authorities are being excluded because they might have a conflict of interest but business people could be on the authority who could end up, perfectly legitimately, doing business with the authority and who would have to declare their interest and remove themselves from the decision making process. The Minister appears to be saying that is okay because...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I am at a loss. I know this Minister a long time and he is one of the more agreeable members of the Government. We have snarled at each other on occasions, but he is still one of the more agreeable ones. I am astonished that he says there is no way of drafting this. He could, for instance, put into this section, "entitled under the standing orders of the local authority from which the...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I accept that.

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I again register my disagreement with section 20(5) which stipulates that when appearing before the Committee of Public Accounts, the chief executive "shall not question or express an opinion on the merits of any policy of the Government or a Minister of the Government or on the merits of the objectives of such a policy". This is another of those standard clauses that is inserted in all...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: The chief executive and the chairman of Dublin Airport Authority have made it clear that they disagree with the Government's policy of making Cork and Shannon Airports free of debt. If they came before an Oireachtas committee, they would be precluded from expressing their dissent, yet they can outline their opinions in a press conference with RTE. Given the Minister's understanding of the...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I move amendment No. 3: In page 18, subsection (1), line 9, to delete "general administration of the". Section 21 states, "The Chief Executive shall, at the request in writing of an Oireachtas Committee, attend before it to give account for the general administration of the Authority as may be required by the Committee". The phrase "general administration" is meaningless and I propose that it...

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: Now I know I am right. Presumably the term "general administration" refers the running of a body. The Minister is not fond of definitions but "administration" has many meanings, including management, organisation, staffing and planning. I see no reason to withdraw the amendment.

Seanad: National Sports Campus Development Authority Bill 2006: Committee Stage. (28 Jun 2006)

Brendan Ryan: I move amendment No. 4: In page 18, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following new subsection: "(2) The Authority shall be accountable to the Oireachtas and shall subscribe to a code of practice to be agreed with the Minister, which shall include provision that the Authority shall give a substantive reply within 7 days to any written question submitted by a member of the Houses of the...